U.K. House Prices Surge as RICS Doubles Forecast for 2015 Gain

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said U.K. house prices will rise twice as fast as it previously anticipated this year as a shortage of properties widens the imbalance between supply and demand.

Values will increase 6 percent in 2015, up from 3 percent predicted at the start of the year, RICS said on Thursday in London. Its monthly house price index rose to a 15-month high of 53 in August from 44 the previous month.

“Given current Forex Market conditions, the latest data unsurprisingly show house prices continuing to rise, and at an accelerating pace,” said Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS. “There is good reason for this … (I forex)